1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a hanger for mounting hollow metal joists perpendicular to headers and the like. The hanger has a U-shaped top flange at the upper portion with the U-shaped top flange supporting a backplate which terminates at its bottom portion in a saddle and which is bent outward and spaced together at its top portion to form a support on which the hollow metal joist can be supported.
2. Description of the Prior Art portion to be attached to the header, or else a U-shaped lip or
Many types of saddle hangers have heretofore been produced. These saddle hangers generally have the same approach to design. They each have some type of grip at the top of the hanger for attaching the hanger to a header or the like. The grip can be simply a straight portion, an L-shaped lip or plurality of U-shaped lips for encircling or partially encircling the header for attachment thereto. In conjunction with the grip, these types of hangers have a backplate which is terminated in a saddle arrangement at the bottom thereof generally by folding the bottom outward and then folding the sides outward followed by folding the bottom around the sides and attaching it thereto to form the saddle arrangement. Other methods of construction include those in which the bottom is first bent outward and severed from the side portions which are then bent outward and around the bottom of the bottom portion to form a saddle. Still other embodiments are those in which a single member is bent on its ends to form U-shaped portions and then bent outward away from the header so that the middle portion of the single member forms a saddle. These prior designs for hangers all have one feature in common, the entire weight of the joist is supported by the saddle. While this sometimes provides an acceptable method for attaching the joist to a header, it does have the problem of not providiing sufficient strength to support the joist. More importantly, however, it also presents the problem of not permitting the required stability when the hanger must be in exact alignment in order to have exact alignment of the hollow metal joist with respect to the header.
The present invention overcomes each of the problems associated with the prior art in providing a hanger which can be used for perfect alignment of the joist with respect to the header and also for providing additional support for the hollow metal joist in this hanging-type arrangement.